Improvement in grain-cradles



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-CRADLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,464, vdated October20, 1857.

To all whom t may concern:

'Be it known that I, DANIEL MIEELETON, of King Georges. Court-House, inthe county of King George and State of Virginia, have invented certainnew and useful- Improvements in Grain-Cradles; and I do hereby declare'that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1represents a perspective `view of said cradle, and Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and6 represent detached views of details hereinafter to be described.

-The nature of my invention relates to an 1m proved mode of adjustingthe tingers ofa graincradle.

To enable Aothers sirillerlrin the art to make and use myinvention, Iwill proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents the snath.

B represents the Scythe, which is attached to the s'nath by means ofring C and wedge'a, which latter can be operated so as to secure orrelease the scythe by turning set-Screw b. The lingers D are secured tothe arm E by means of hook-bolts d and clamp-screws h, as represented inFigs. 2 and 3. Thus the length of these tin gers can be adjusted toscythes of different lengthsbyslidingtherearendswithinthehooks d, andwhen adjusted to the proper position they can be secured by means ofscrew-nuts h. The fingers D are secured and braced to each other bymeans of screw-boltst passing th rough tubesk, the latter serving tokeep the fingers dstended in their true position. The lowest .iinger Dis secured to the scythe by means of brace F, represented in detail inFig. 5.

mrepresentsasqnare rod, which has a screwthread, n, cut at its upperend, working in the screw-nut o of the staple p.

rrepresentsa square tube, whichineloses the rod m. In applying thisbrace for securing the lower nger to the scythe the square boltm ispassed through a hole in the Scythe, leaving its head y outside, thestaple p is passed over the lower linger D, and the upper end' of rod mis screwed into nut o by turning the square tube r. The object of thisadjustable brace rod is to operate in conjunction with the adjustmentsof the fingers D, for when the fingers D are to be lengthened orshortened the bolt m is unscrewed, and said fingers can be adjustedwithout removing the bolt m from its hole in the Scythe. l

The arm E, to which the fingers are secured, is attached to the snath Ain such a manner that it can be slightly turned when t-hescythe v andfingers are spread, and the tin gers are retained in their position bymeans of spreadingrods H, attached to the bolts t', which can be adjusted and secured by means of clampscrew nuts s, washer t, and clamp-screw n, as represented in Fig. 6.

l Thus it will be seen that by the arrangements as described the fingersDare susceptible ot' adjustments in two different directions: First,they can be spread by lengthening or shortening the attachment ofspreading-rods H, and then the lingers themselves can be lengthened orshortened to adapt them to scythes of dif. ferent lengths.

The handle I is secured to the snath in the snath, the handle Iconsisting of a tube provided at its upper end with a screw-nut, fv,fitting over the screw on the upper end of rod K. M is a washer, thelower side of which is' out out so as to fit the curvature of the snathby shoving ring L over the snath A and placing washer M down on rod K,andthe tube I also over said rod. Thelatter can be screwed tightly ontorod K, and is thus permanently attached to the snath A. y

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what I claimtherein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The adjustable fingers D, in combination with the brace F, arranged andoperating in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

DANIEL MIFFLETON.

Witnesses E. F. HUNTER, J WESLEY BROWN.

